Teaching with a Culture in mind ARTEFACTS CONCEPTS

Teaching with a Culture in mind ARTEFACTS CONCEPTS REALIA BEHAVIOR PATTERNS

Goals of Cultural Instruction ~ to help students develop an understanding for the fact that all people exhibit culturally conditioned behavior; ~ develop an understanding of social variables (age, sex, social class and place of residence ) influence the way people speak and behave; ~ for students to master conventional behavior in common situations of the target culture; ~ to increase awareness of the cultural connotations of words and phrases in the target language (e. g. ‘three square meals a day’; why немцы ? ); ~ to develop the necessary skills to locate and organize information about the target culture; ~ to stimulate intellectual curiosity and to encourage empathy towards people.

ARTEFACTS = CULTURAL PRODUCTS Students become more confident if the activities are based on realia ( souvenirs, cartoons, travelogues, money, photographs, newspapers, news – radio and TV, stamps). They have the advantage of being actual physical objects to work with — currency deals, front page features, headlines, poems; stamp collections: postage stamps are a form of advertising and show the best aspects of a product (What does this country seem to believe is its most important industry, product or scene (same with money); today’s TV schedule, which can be used to increase awareness of the type of TV programme broadcast in the UK/US, to compare them with those in the student’s own country, to practice deducing info.

NEWSPAPER PROGRAMMES ENGLISH RUSSIAN How many channels? During what hours? Do any of them seem to specialize in particular kinds of programmes? Which? Which are documentaries? Which are news? How often are they broadcast? Sports? For children? Do-it-yourself? (cooking, gardening) Any broadcast in a language other than English?

HELP WANTED TASKSHEET Which jobs are paid on an hourly basis? RUSSIA UK Which jobs are salary-paid? Which jobs are prestigious? What are as a rule working hours? Benefits or extras (health insurance, holidays with pay etc. ) Qualifications? Other info?

HOUSING AVAILABLE ~ types; ~ sizes (number of rooms, total area); ~ price; ~types of heating; ~ other info (What is an American cottage in Russia? )

WHAT MAKES YOU ELIGIBLE? RUSSIA UK ж /o, без в / п , л / а ? Country of Origin : United Kingdom. Current Location : Amersham (Amersham), Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom. Gender: Male. Age: 51. Star Sign: Pisces. Height: 5′ 10″ (178 cm). Body Type: Athletic Looks: Average. Hair Colour: Graying. Eye Colour : Hazel. Relationship Status: Divorced Looking For : Activity partners; Friends; Let’s see what happens; A short-term relationship; A long-term relationship; Marriage Have Children: Yes, not living with me. Want Children: No. Daily Diet: Eat healthily. Smoking : Never. Drinking: Several times a week. Education : Postgraduate. Occupation: HR / Recruitment. Income: Enough. Ethnicity: White/Caucasian. Home Language : Ask me later. Other Languages: Ask me later. Religion: Spiritual, but not religious

ПРИЕЗЖАЙТЕ НА ДАЧУ…

‘ GARDEN’ CONCEPT

WHAT MAKES IT A DISASTER?

Examining patterns of everyday life To sum up…This refers to concepts of such culturally related themes as family, home. . . : here we should refer agony aunt’s letters, dating customs (2) , ads of the ‘Help wanted’ type (3) ; holiday photographs , ads about housing available (to increase awareness about the variety, size, structure, and related features of housing in the UK and the US, to practice deducing factual info from newspaper ads (4) ); working with generalizations about the target culture (as a home assignment, students can be asked to prepare a brief written report, summarizing the evidence which confirms, contradicts or modifies one or several statements (5) (it is a good testing format); The home I grew up in – to increase awareness of the fact that culture plays a role in how people define and create their homes and organize use of them (6) ; Which would you like to do – to increase awareness of leisure activity options in the UK/US, to practice deducing info from ads (7).

Generalizations Most start dating at the age of 12; The bill in restaurants includes service charge; Shopping means going to the supermarket once a week; It is polite to ask questions about salary; People who walk their dogs in public are required to clean after them; ‘ Thank you’ – is a way to react to compliments.

Exploiting Realia

What is this?

EARLY, ON TIME OR LATE? a) a business meeting; b) a school exam; c) a concert; d) a date; e) a job interview; f) a meeting with a friend; g) a film; h) a graduation ceremony; i) a dinner party; j) a class; k) a wedding; l) a play.

STUDY OF SYMBOLS

Recognizing cultural images and symbols Here anything can be exploited (up to surrounding sounds, nickname matches, exploiting song lyrics, guessing people, odd one out (not belonging to this culture), postcard matches, rogues gallery or the top ten (Who’s the most famous: monarch/President, politician, General, poet, writer, actor/actress, criminal, sports person; scientist/inventor; artist, singer, etc. ); ten word stories – selecting culture-related words you’d like to revise: e. g. for America it would be black, white, successful, Oscar, mother, car. . .

SIGNAL OF A PARTY GETTING A LITTLE BIT TOO WILD… RUSSIA UNITED KINGDOM I’ve been a wild rover for many a year And I spent all my money on whiskey and beer, And now I’m returning with gold in great store And I never will play the wild rover no more. Chorus: And it’s no, nay, never, No nay never no more, Will I play the wild rover No never no more.

PAINTINGS AND FOLKLOR

Culturally conditioned connotations helpful Ask the way. Guarantee safety Road police

Culturally conditioned connotations ? ? ? ГИБДД

EXPLOITING ATTITUDES AND VALUES Trap words (clichés which might have a culturally conditioned hidden layer of meaning, should also be exploited (Br. : How are you? Let’s have lunch some time? Excuse me? ! Russian. : Нужна мне ваша ваза ! Да нет…Здравствуйте, я ваша тетя! Счас! ).

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